A Furuba Mary Sue
by Tozette
Summary: “Hi,” the beautiful girl chirped merrily, flipping her beautiful rose colored hair over her shoulder. “I’m Meredith Rose Pearl Suede. A lot of people have trouble with it, so you can call me Merry Sue.” This was going to be trouble.
1. Your Dancing's Entrancing

Disclaimer: The manga/anime series, "Fruits Basket" and any and all characters or place names pertaining thereto are the sole property of the creator and associated persons. The author of this story does not claim or aspire to own any of these. Any thoughts or opinions expressed by the characters in this piece of fanwork do not necessarily reflect those of the author or of the creator of the original series.

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"Hi," the beautiful girl chirped merrily, flipping her beautiful rose-colored hair over her shoulder. "I'm Meredith Rose Pearl Suede. A lot of people have trouble with it, so you can call me Merry-Sue."

Kyo found himself reaching forward to take the hand of this lavender-eyed goddess, never mind that shaking hands upon meeting someone your own age was just stupid. It didn't matter.

"Kyo-kun, are you okay? You look a bit – Oh, my, I didn't notice you standing there!" Tohru sounded scandalized.

Kyo snapped back into reality, yanking his hand away from the girl's before her perfectly-manicured fingertips could close over it. He looked at that hand with growing dread for a moment before turning to Tohru, who was now politely introducing herself to this stranger.

The girl – Merry-Sue, he recalled, wondering what kind of monster would name their child that – was eyeing Tohru with disdain, which brought upon an immediate dislike of her and her stupid perfectly pale unblemished skin.

With a startlingly insincere smile, the pink-haired girl replied, "Merry-Sue. Lovely to meet you," and turned back to Kyo, which left Tohru looking a bit lost.

"Ano, Honda-kun," Yuki's soft, balanced voice drifted down the corridor and Kyo narrowed his eyes, "would you happen to know where my shirt is?" Yuki's head poked out around a corner. "Oh. We have a guest," he murmured, watching Merry-Sue with a blank face.

"Actually, I'm staying with you for a few weeks," Merry-Sue cut in. One of Yuki's eyebrows rose, just a fraction of an inch.

"Ah…" Yuki sounded a little lost, "I see." He introduced himself politely. Kyo watched the expression on his face for a long, quiet moment as it changed from mildly chagrined to spellbound. Tohru didn't seem to notice.

As Merry-Sue completed her introduction, she smiled and Yuki reached forward to take her hand. Kyo and Yuki weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination. It was a simple fact of nature. However, when Tohru interrupted the first time, he felt as though he'd been saved from some terrible fate. He debated on whether he should save a fellow human being from a fate that seemed, according to his instincts, only marginally worse than death, or take note of the fact that it was Yuki, not a fellow human being, and leave him.

While Kyo was still deciding, his left hand, already hidden behind Yuki, reached forward and settled on his back. The rat froze, then smiled politely and pulled his own hand away from Merry-Sue, who looked puzzled, but still as sweet as red-bean paste.

Torhu, apparently deciding where she'd left Yuki's shirt, had disappeared momentarily.

"I hope you have a pleasant stay," Yuki murmured with his usual distance, inclining his head and turning away. As he glanced at Kyo, his eyes were flat and wary, but he nodded to him. Kyo scowled. Some thanks he got.

Stupid rat.

He walked past the girl without another word, leaving her eyeing the empty air with a puzzled expression. Shigure or Tohru would find her eventually, if she didn't have the sense to move on her own.

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Dinner was a frightening affair.

"I see you've all met our new houseguest," Shigure bounced delightedly. "Isn't she lovely?"

"Yes," Tohru agreed nervously for all of them.

"You should probably know that she's Akito-san's half-sister," he went on blithely. Kyo took the opportunity to go from Silently Scowling to Choking on Dinner. Shigure gave him a warning glance as Tohru inquired after his health and quickly poured him water, which he snapped at her for.

"And that she has a share in our curse," this statement was greeted with the total lack of sound that it deserved, followed by,

"WHAT?"

Yuki gave Kyo unfriendly eyes, pausing to watch his face turning an unpleasant shade of red. How inelegant, his gaze seemed to comment. Kyo snarled at him. Yuki sighed and turned back to Shigure. Merry-Sue hadn't said a word, other than _itadakimasu_, since she knelt down. "But we already have thirteen," he pointed out.

"Yes, but she isn't a zodiac animal. It seems that because she's only half-Sohma, she gets the curse, but not an animal of the zodiac." Shigure shrugged, smiling still. He shouldn't have been, because, from what Yuki knew about the curse, it simply didn't work like that.

He glanced back at Kyo, who was hyperventilating.

"It's true," Merry-Sue's beautiful voice proclaimed defiantly. There were tears standing in her beautiful lavender eyes. Yuki melted, wondering why he hadn't liked her. Surely, _surely_ he'd been wrong to suspect such a beautiful creature of… what had he suspected her of, anyway?

It was about then that a chopstick was shoved painfully into his thigh. He offered Kyo another glare and turned back.

"I turn into a unicorn," she continued, apparently not noticing the silent conversation going on in front of her, "but since I'm only half-Sohma, I can control it," she finished.

Kyo burst out laughing, loudly and obnoxiously. Shigure looked murderous. Yuki found this odd, since his cousin was usually very mild-mannered. Tohru looked embarrassed, as though she wanted to run and hide, which wasn't all that odd, particularly when Kyo was making an ass of himself. Merry-Sue looked at him wide-eyed and hurt, but behind that was confusion, as if, whatever she had been expecting, laughter wasn't it.

"Um, Sue-san," Yuki took it upon himself to reply, "how do you mean, control it?" he wasn't about to go into the theories about the unicorn being a jumped-up rhino. That might have been a little cruel.

She turned the full force of her shining smile onto him, where he fought not to melt again. Kyo would be no help this time; he was too busy having hysterics. "Why, I only transform when I want to," she replied. Yuki grit his teeth and straightened his back.

Shigure smiled delightedly, as though she'd said something smart. Tohru looked confused. "Excuse me, but isn't the whole point of a curse to be, well, inconveniencing?"

Shigure's irritated stare landed on Tohru, which was when Yuki realized that something _had_ to be up. There was no way he'd get mad at her for asking one impertinent question; it was too rare an occasion.

It dawned on Yuki then that this might be the effect that that strange melting feeling had on people when stupid cats weren't around to rescue them. Not that Kyo had rescued him. He had been about to snap out of it himself, both times.

Really.

"And now that I'm staying with you, I'm going to your school, as well!" Merry-Sue smiled at him and, for a long moment he though, _stars, flowers, moonlight, fireworks!_

Then Kyo stabbed him with that damned chopstick again, having apparently recovered from his fit of hysterics. Yuki turned to him and gave him a glare intended to be interpreted as a message to shut up as he said, "That sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

Kyo looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, whole, and it had been infested with something nasty with too many legs. He nodded slowly.

This was going to be a problem.

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Greetings, all. This is the end of my first chapter. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. This story may be a long time between updates, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.


	2. So My Feet Start Gliding

See first chapter for Disclaimer.

A big thank you to The Kanji Wizard, your reviews kick ass. It actually made me write this chapter, so consider it a dedication.

Thank you.

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School was worse.

So, so much worse.

Kyo wasn't sure how much more he could take.

Meredith Rose Pearl Suede was a big hit with the guys, Kyo noticed. Yuki copped the worst of it on account of the fact that he was significantly less likely to become violent if spoken to, but that didn't mean that Kyo got off lightly.

"Hey, man, you're _living_ with that girl? How lucky are you? Do you know what kind of chocolate she likes?"

"I can't believe someone like that would want to live with a guy like _you_,"

"Do you know if she likes scented or unscented roses? Pink, red, white or yell – mmmph!"

Kyo sighed in satisfaction as the boy from his year – he didn't even know his name, but he still had the audacity to speak so familiarly to him – hobbled away, holding his nose.

"That was mean, Kyo-kun," the soft, sickeningly beautiful voice of Merry-Sue intruded on his brief moment of contentment. He scowled, preparing for the intense effort it would take to talk to her and not be… changed.

She moved in front of him when he showed no signs of turning to face her. "Are you alright, Kyo-kun?" her warm, improbably lavender eyes were concerned.

"None of your damn business," he mumbled.

"That's mean, Kyo-kun," she pointed out, looking shattered. She was right, actually. Why was he being so mean to her? She was wonderful, beautiful, and she was talking to _him,_ he thought, noticing that her lips were painted with something sweet-smelling and shiny.

It was about then that he realized that she was a bit too close for comfort. He clenched his fists, making sure his short nails dug into his skin. The pain snapped him out of it, and he was able to push her away from the shoulders, hissing, "What the HELL d'you think you're DOING? Don't be so DAMN FAMILIAR!"

Of course, as is usual with Kyo, he pushed a little too hard and she crashed across a desk as he fled the room to her soft, hurt tears and disapproving murmurs.

"I – I… I was only trying to be friendly. …Kyo-kun," she murmured.

Kyo sagged against the door, relieved to have gotten away unscathed. One more period before his rendezvous with the rat at lunch break. He didn't like to admit it to himself – saying it out loud to his face would be the last _faux pas_ one might ever make – but he was in way over his head here.

"Hey," someone growled off to his left.

Damnit.

He ignored them, straightening and moving down the hallway to the right.

"HEY," it was repeated, louder. He paused.

"You talking to me?" he asked. Even for Kyo, the tone was standoffish. The guy looked kind of familiar.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you," he was tall, Kyo noticed idly. As tall as Hatori, at least. He was also muscular, but it was the kind of muscle you got with lifting weights, not fighting. Kyo continued to scowl at him, completing his assessment and coming to the conclusion that he could definitely take this guy.

The pause stretched out.

And out.

Kyo raised an eyebrow, spat on the floor and turned to continue on his way.

"Don't turn away when I'm talking to you!" the person behind him growled. Kyo sighed, scowled and turned back around.

"Then TALK to me, you moron!" he yelled in his face.

The other was taken aback for a moment, before pressing on in quieter tones. "It wasn't nice, what you did to Sue-san back there."

It was very hard to put away the urge to yell, _ya think,_ but he did it. It wasn't that he was apprehensive about a fight breaking out; he just didn't want everyone else to get ideas about challenging him to defend Meredith Rose Pearl Suede's honor. Their once-lonely little stretch of corridor was beginning to get awfully crowded. High-school students could smell a fight in the offing.

Scowling harder at the thought of how many people wanted him to lose, Kyo settled for raising a dubious eyebrow. The thought that it was what Yuki might have done in a similar situation made him twitch, and the knowledge that Yuki wouldn't get himself _into _a similar situation was small comfort.

"You don't _treat_ girls like her that way," he continued threateningly.

Then he remembered when he'd seen the boy before – when Haru and Momiji had first transferred, he'd been one of the people eyeing Tohru and suggesting that sweet, submissive girls were easy. What made Meredith Rose Pearl Suede so special? He'd grown a bit since then, but…

Kyo growled. The general hypocrisy of the situation was just too much – he was going to _pound_ this guy…

He plastered on a cocky smirk. "What are you going to do about that, then?" he asked pseudo-innocently, wondering which B-grade American movie his dialogue had come from.

The taller boy threw his whole body behind the weight of his fist when he punched – stupid when it was so easy to dodge, Kyo thought. He'd have to remember to tell him that when they were done.

"DON'T!" A grief-stained female voice shrieked.

The bigger boy fell off-balance as he tried to pull up, falling onto a surprised Kyo and doing more damage than he would have if he'd gone through with the punch. Thankful that he hadn't been a she, Kyo pushed the larger body off him, screwing up his nose at the offensive smell of sweat. It was very hard not to be offended by most people's bathing habits when you had the nose of a cat.

He looked down the hallway where their interruption had been and found her still frozen in dramatic position, one perfectly-manicured hand outstretched, the other covering her mouth. Her emerald-green eyes were trailing glittering tears down her cheeks. Somehow, contrary to all laws of nature, crying made her face yet more beautiful, and her rose-colored hair contrasted with her eyes enough to remind him of bramble roses, the kind that were almost impossible to get rid of.

Well, now that was just over reacting. If she was really so enamored of the oaf, why she hadn't just said something, Kyo wondered, shaking his head. He wouldn't have hurt him to badly anyway…

"Don't hurt Kyo-kun!"

"Eh?" Kyo asked, feeling as though he was missing something. "Eh?"

"I know he was mean, but I'm sure he's learnt his lesson – don't hurt him," she sounded so compassionate; Kyo was forced to admit that she might actually be serious.

Not for the first time in her presence, he burst out in hysterics. It wouldn't happen so often if she just stopped saying stupid things around him.

Of course, it was the first time that most of the people at school had seen him so much as smile, so they were moderately frightened, but, somewhere in the crowd he heard a corresponding chuckle that sounded suspiciously rat-like.

It was enough to kill his laughter, but then he saw the look on Merry-Sue's face and cracked up again. She looked as though she was about to enquire after his mental health, but had just thought better of it.

"Kyo, she just saved your life. I don't know what's so funny." Hatsuharu was present. Kyo looked up at him from his new vantage point on the floor.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

Haru's glare was answer enough. Kyo stopped laughing, realizing that yet another member of his family was no longer on his side. He wondered if Momiji had been… brainwashed, or whatever, too.

One more period until he met with Yuki and they discussed tactics, he reminded himself, shrugging Haru off and continuing on his way to class, suddenly sober. Damn it, this was getting so stupid. Why was everyone in love with her?

He'd meet with the stupid rat, they'd figure it out – _together,_ because _anyone_ was better than no one and there wasn't another _anyone_ to be _together_ with – and then he'd go to two more classes, get out for the day and head straight to sensei to see if he could organize a month-long training trip in the mountains. Somewhere secluded, where nobody would find him if he decided to become a hermit and live out the rest of his unnaturally long life there.

With this calming thought in mind, he scowled his way off to math class.

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Okay. That's chapter two. If anybody would like to suggest chapter names, I wouldn't mind. I'd even use them, if they were good.


	3. To the Spotlight

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thanks for your reviews.

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The classroom was dark, empty and full of shadows. Kyo slid the door open noiselessly and entered without a sound, making sure to close the door after himself.

"You're late,"

The hair on Kyo's neck – not to mention his head – stood up on end. He leapt about a foot in the air. "STUPID RAT! SCARE ME HALF TO DEATH, WHY DON'T YA?"

"So much for secrecy," Yuki pointed out, swishing past Kyo's angry figure to flick on the overhead lights. Kyo continued to stare at the spot he'd previously occupied, scowling angrily for all he was worth and mumbling cruel things about rodents.

Yuki was more pragmatic, and quickly put aside any lingering irritation with Kyo's outburst. "Here," he slapped a large book on the table.

"What the hell're we going to do with a book, idiot?" Kyo snapped.

Yuki smiled faintly, "Read the title, moron."

Sighing loudly, the redhead leant over and read the words upside down. "_Mythical Creatures from the Western Kingdoms, 1683,_" he read aloud before turning scowling eyes up to his cousin. "So?" he asked, knowing that there must be _some_ relevance to the book. Yuki, for all his (many) flaws, wasn't Ayame.

Sniffing as though to ask, _don't you know **anything, **_Yuki flipped open to a page he had bookmarked and passed the book back to Kyo.

The page was golden with age, and the colors were pretty faded, but the illustration was clear enough. It was a woman, fine of feature and bone with big, big eyes and utterly kissable lips. One of her eyes was periwinkle blue, the other an orange not unlike his hair. He stared for a moment at the achingly beautiful illustration before glancing warily up to Yuki, who nodded gravely.

Flipping the page, he read the heading with dread, "_Mary-Sues and Sirens?_"

"Yes. Apparently they're not that different, depending on your choice of myth. Except that Mary-Sue is an acronym," the rat or the zodiac pointed out, pressing one thin finger to a certain part of the text about half way down the page.

"Meet – and – romance – you," Kyo's English was admittedly not too great, but he knew these words, "Save – universe – expire,"

There was a long pause.

"So we just have to wait for her to die?" he asked hopefully.

Yuki shook his head, "Read the text, idiot," he instructed, and Kyo overlooked the insult momentarily, reading on.

"So she hypnotizes people?" he asked, confused.

Yuki shook his head. "I don't really understand it that well myself, but it seems that they have a… a sort of a charismatic… _personal energy_," he hesitated to say, _aura_, knowing what he did about the way magic worked.

Kyo nodded, and thinking of something, said, "is it supposed to be… touch activated?"

Yuki, also, seemed to be thinking back to his first meeting with the girl and shook his head. "If it were touch activated, she would have had to touch all of the people she's got following her around like puppy dogs," which made them both think of Shigure and sigh.

Kyo, who had read onward a little longer, paled.

Yuki nodded. "Some of them settle down and hang around, letting everyone love them more and more, making them act totally out of character."

"We've got to stop her," Kyo said determinedly. "We can't just _leave_ everyone like this. And what if she gets to one of _us_?"

Yuki nodded. "That was what I was thinking," he agreed. Their eyes met, violet to amber, and a resolve unlike the world had ever seen was born.

Then Yuki blushed and looked down, leaving Kyo eyeing him confusedly. "However," he murmured, flipping the page over again and pointing down to the bottom paragraph.

" 'Hawthorne and Rowan are good for stopping the power of the M.A.R.Y. – S.U.E, but the only' – hey, I was READING that you STUPID – mmph!"

"Good afternoon, Sue-san, how can we help you?" Yuki asked loudly. Kyou fell silent, staring back down at the book, now displaying the totally innocuous content of, _how to rid oneself of werewolf venom before the first full moon._

"I was looking for Kyo-kun, actually," the uber-sweet voice of the monster called from the doorway.

"I'm afraid it'll have to wait, Sue-san. We're taking care of some important Student Council work that simply cannot wait. Perhaps you could speak to him later," Yuki suggested politely.

"Oh, ah…. It won't take long, Yuki-kun."

"But this will, and I'm afraid I cannot spare him. Perhaps you could talk later," he repeated, more firmly.

Kyo fought off the desire to bite his fingers.

"Oh, ah…. Alright," Merry-Sue sighed, sliding the door closed.

Abruptly, Yuki let go of Kyo's mouth and flipped the page back, pointing at the relevant part of the text.

Kyo scanned it, eyes growing wide.

"WE HAVE TO **_WHAT!_"**

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That's it for this chapter. I hope it meets your expectations. Anybody who guesses what needs to be done to get rid of her gets a cookie, although it's not that hard.


	4. Where Your High Heels

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Thanks.

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"Keep it down!" Yuki hissed.

"MAKE ME!" Kyo snarled.

And with a dull _thud_, Yuki did just that.

Unfortunately for Kyo, martial arts training didn't prepare you for angry, super-deformed beatings.

"It's the only way. Hawthorne and rowan will protect us, so maybe we should find some to wear or carry or something, but the only thing that will kill her is... two... men... together," he stilted.

There was a long silence in which the cat-boy rubbed his head and eyed Yuki suspiciously, and Yuki eyed him right back with barely constrained amusement.

"So who are you gonna... do this with?" he mumbled from the floor.

Yuki's smirk dropped away and he continued to stare at Kyo. Kyo backed away quickly, scuttling backwards. "Oh, no. No _way_. And certainly not with _you_."

Yuki shrugged. "Maybe we can find someone else to do it," he suggested dubiously, then seemed to have a brainwave. "If she hasn't been to the main house yet, we could maybe persuade Hatori and... and..." he sighed, defeated, and Kyo suddenly knew how desperate he must have been, "Ayame," he finished in a small voice, as though the word might conjure the man.

Although... as long as he didn't have to invite them, it wasn't a bad idea by Kyo's standards.

Maybe they could get by without talking to Ayame. Hatori might be a little more...

"Of course, Ayame is working as a secretary for Hatori..."

"Why? Doesn't he have his own stupid kink shop?"

Yuki sighed. "Well, yes..." he remembered his visit there with dull horror, "but he needed to have money for..." Yuki paused, as if remembering some far-off phone conversation removed from his mind by PTSD, "I think he was trying to make himself some form of... clothing," his mind refused to recall what kind of clothing it had been, so he glossed over it, hoping briefly that he wouldn't have to see it when he was done. The sequined thong had been traumatic enough.

Kyo nodded, obviously content with the vaguest answer possible. "Maybe if we visit Hatori, we can get by without seeing... him."

Yuki nodded, although he privately thought that the chances of seeing Hatori without seeing Ayame were slim. "There is that," he agreed aloud.

"Lets go."

"Wha -?" Yuki was unceremoniously dragged from the room, down the corridor and across the school grounds. They received a number of strange looks, but did not manage to run into Merry-Sue on the way.

By the time they were out the gates, Yuki no longer needed an answer to his question. He tugged his wrist away.

"Do you skip school often?" he asked dryly.

Kyo shrugged. "They don't miss me,"

"Condition people to expect nothing..." Yuki mumbled, trailing off.

"WHAT WAS THAT!"

"Nevermind," they were trying to get along, after all. It seemed to him that Kyo wasn't making much of an effort, though.

They were lucky that it was a school day; the trains were coming quickly. On account of the fact that it wasn't yet peak hour, the amount of people on them was bearable, also. At the station, their school uniforms got them some suspicious glances, but nobody asked questions, perhaps on account of the air of panicked determination they carried.

It was a long walk, though and they ended up leaving the city behind. There was grass and the occasional tree here. As one, they broke into a steady jog. Running, there was no conversation, and Yuki wasn't sure that he minded, because they'd have started arguing for sure. Kyo's presence was almost appealing until he opened his mouth.

Kyo, on the other hand, was determined to find out if the rat was in better shape than him. How irritating that would be! He hadn't much desire to talk either, but both of them knew that they'd have to talk about possible alternatives in case Hatori, or, gods forbid, Ayame had been – _taken_.

Kyo sped up. Yuki rolled his eyes and sped up as well, keeping pace.

Kyo sped up.

Yuki sped up.

Kyo snarled, bursting into a full run. Yuki watched as his form began to get smaller. He sighed and hastened, easily catching up and holding the pace. After all, they were trying to go fast, not tire themselves prematurely.

Or so he thought. Kyo began to sprint.

Sprinting what might have been a twenty-minute walk was _not_ what Yuki's poor lungs had in mind. They weren't _built_ for that kind of stupidity. He shook his head and slowed down. Kyo dropped back to a jog as well, scowling questioningly at him.

Yuki noticed that most of Kyo's expressions looked like a scowl of some sort.

"You win," Yuki mumbled, feeling the air cold and vicious down his throat.

Kyo felt strangely cheated. He sulked in silence, not particularly comfortable admitting that winning didn't feel much better than losing in this instance.

"Look," Yuki said suddenly, pointing at a tree that Kyo knew was not native.

"So what?"

"Hawthorn," Yuki explained. It was huge, for a hawthorn tree. It must have been very old. Kyo's eyes lit up. They both hurried to the tree, examining it. It was definitely the same as the one depicted in the book.

"So the wood from this gives you protection against... _her_?"

"It seems so," Yuki said cautiously. "Along with vampires and werewolves and all sorts of other evil creatures," he muttered under his breath.

Kyo took it upon himself to claw his way up the tree. He was good at it, like most cats, and he threw two twigs, perhaps six inches in length, down to Yuki before realising, like most cats, that he couldn't get down the same way he got up.

When Yuki realised what the problem was, he sighed, slapping his forehead. Kyo appeared to be getting higher up in an effort to find the right way down.

"Jump," he said.

"Are you nuts?"

"Jump," he insisted.

"... are you nuts?" Kyo repeated.

Yuki sighed. "... I'll catch you," he muttered.

"... ARE YOU _NUTS_?"

Yuki snorted softly. "You have to come down sometime," he pointed out. Kyo glared. He hated being stuck in compromising, vulnerable positions.

"You'll... catch me," he repeated hesitantly, snappishly. Yuki decided not to bait him with his strange dependence on another human being, particularly since it was himself. Not when they were getting along so well.

Necessity is the mother of most things, really.

"Jump," he insisted impatiently.

Kyo gave him one last death glare and jumped.

He landed safely. On his hands and knees at least.

Except that one hand seemed to be resting on Yuki's stomach, and his left hand seemed to have slid somewhere over his cousin's right shoulder. There was a comical moment where Yuki and he stared at each other, suspended in time, eyes wide.

Yuki's hands came up to catch him.

And they crashed in an unceremonious heap on the grass.

Yuki passed out, due to the unfortunate pressure of Kyo's hand on his stomach. Or through his stomach, which seemed to be its ultimate destination.

It was kind of nauseous and black, as far as he could tell.

"Damn, stupid, godfor_saken_ rat," someone was growling rhythmically.

It was the first thing he heard. His vision came swimming back.

Orange. Lots and lots of orange. Where _was_ he?

A sharp slap to the face brought him sitting up, blinking. His head bashed into that of Kyo, who hadn't moved from the position he'd fallen in, sprawled in Yuki's lap.

"What was THAT for, _ASSHOLE_?"

"Um," Yuki mumbled intelligently.

Kyo's glare was damn near sentient.

"My stomach hurts," Yuki said. He felt it was a more productive statement. Kyo had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. Yuki suspected it was more from his insistence that he be caught when he jumped than it was from causing Yuki any harm.

Aw. Poor ickle kitty was scared of heights.

He didn't say it. He didn't want to have to deal with the aftermath. The oxygen was catching up with Yuki's brain and he flushed magenta for a moment before coughing nervously and saying,

"You're in my lap."

Kyo jumped up like he'd been burned, rubbing at the grass-stained graze on his left palm and murmuring curses. Yuki dusted off his own clothing and retrieved their hawthorn twigs, one of which had broken in half. He handed the smaller two pieces to Kyo, snapping his own and securing it in his pocket. He'd figure out if it had to be next to his skin later.

Kyo also pocketed one piece, staring at the other for a long moment before shrugging and dumping it in his bag instead.

"Come on," he snapped, starting off at a jog again.

Yuki suspected he was self-conscious, but didn't mention it, his brain having fully caught up with his body now. The same body that was none too happy about having to imbibe large amounts of oxygen after being so viciously winded, he realised soon after.

It was just his luck that Kyo didn't look like slowing down.

When had Kyo ever looked like slowing down?

He broke into a jog just as it started to rain.

Perfect. A cranky, self conscious cat, wet clothing, a hand-shaped bruise on his stomach, and a mythical monster to deal with.

Just another day in the life of Sohma Yuki.

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Okay, that's the fourth chapter.

What do you think?

Cookies to just about everybody that reviewed last time. Am I really that predictable?


	5. Are Riding

See first chapter for disclaimer.

You all need to see 12 kingdoms. It's a tiny, tiny fandom for a very, very cool story.

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Hatori gave them a bland look of disapproval when they arrived out of breath.

"You should be in school," he said flatly. The fact that Yuki was wheezing slightly did not go unnoticed. He was clearly unimpressed.

Kyo shrugged, giving Yuki a look. Yuki held up a placating hand, watching his breath in a few short moments. Ah, the benefits of being physically fit.

"Ayame's not around here, is he?" Yuki's first question made Hatori look as though he was torn between an understanding smile and an even flatter look of irritation.

"He will be back soon. I sent him shopping for aspirin. I had a headache," Hatori said pointedly.

Kyo sweatdropped. "Ain't this a doctor's practice? Don't you have aspirin?"

Hatori shrugged. "It's Ayame," he replied.

Yuki and Kyo nodded in understanding. "Um, Hatori-san?" Yuki asked hesitantly, as though unsure as to how to go about telling him.

"... yes, Yuki-kun," Hatori replied dryly, as much to say, _well done, you got my name right._ It was the tone he used with Ayame, and it made Yuki bristle.

"Have you met Sue-san yet, Hatori-san?" he asked, recalling that caution was the better part of valour.

"Why, yes, of course," Hatori replied, a softer expression drifting through his eyes. "She was such a lovely girl. I gave her an examination when she came back; Akito was _so_ pleased to see his darling half-sister again. And to think, none of us could remember her at first," he chuckled, sounding downright chipper.

Yuki swallowed, and an expression of horror settled across Kyo's face. "Oh," he said softly, lost for words.

"It was really quite horrific, actually," Hatori murmured absently and the pair felt a swift stab of hope, "some of the things her body has healed," he shook his head as though in amazement.

Yuki nodded, elbowing Kyo and glaring. The redhead looked ready to make something of it before reigning in the aggression and nodding as well.

"Really," he said pseudo-pleasantly, and Yuki gave him a dismayed look, but Hatori didn't even seem to notice how out of character he was acting.

"Yes, really. I didn't know that someone with such a... _tragic_," he seemed lost for words, "past could be so strong."

"I see," Yuki managed.

Kyo glanced at the clock on the wall, noticing that school was already out. And he'd managed to skip science, too.

"What's so tragic about her past?" Kyo muttered, sounding a shade more like his old self.

"Oh, I'd say that's for her to tell you," Hatori smiled.

Perturbed to see him showing any expression at all, Kyo didn't press. Yuki just wanted to get out of there.

The door slid open and hit its run's end with a sound _bang_. "Hatori-san!" Ayame crowed, "I brought you your aspirin, and a bottle of water, and a nurse's outfit! Did I see my darling younger brother's shoes by your door?" his manic yellow eyes landed on Yuki and narrowed into focus mechanically.

"YUKI!" he wailed, glomping him.

Yuki managed to get him off, throwing a frightened glance at Kyo, who shrugged powerlessly.

"Did you drop by to have a deep and meaningful heart-to-heart with your older brother? Fear not, for I shall grant your wish –"

Noticing Yuki giving him a dependant look, Hatori interrupted with, "Actually, we were just talking about Merry-Sue,"

His comment was met with silence. "Well, I haven't had the _honour_ of meeting her yet, but," Ayame gave Hatori a worried, dubious glance – and Yuki knew that he hadn't been contaminated. _Of all the people_, he thought with a sigh – "Shigure and you certainly seem to like her," There was something like jealousy in that tone.

"You know," Yuki said, sounding cheerful and looking somehow both resigned and mildly terrified at the same time, "I think that Ayame and I _should_ do some, you know, brother bonding. Why don't you come along, Kyo?"

For a few short moments, Ayame was actually speechless. Kyo gave Yuki an, _are you sure you want to submit yourself to this indignity through general goodwill for your fellow man_ look, but followed behind as Ayame, now babbling about flowers, familial bonding and how, now that his wonderful little brother had finally made some effort, it would be brilliant and their relationship would be mended and Yuki would have a role-model.

Yuki looked like he was about to implode. Kyo had a headache.

Hatori watched them leave for a deserted room with a raised eyebrow. After a moment of shell-shocked silence, he decided that he was too jaded a character to be too surprised by anything these days. Particularly when it involved family.

-----------------

"Ayame,"

Babble, babble, babble. Flowers, fireworks, brotherly love, nurses outfits, Shigure's underwear. Babble, babble.

"Ayame," Nervous twitch.

Babble, babble, babble. Hatori acting strange, taking phone calls, very glad that Yuki has finally admitted his love and admiration for his older brother who, undoubtedly, had been the focus of those emotions for the past several years.

"_Ayame_,"

"And we will – what?"

"Just – here. Keep it. Have it with you all the time," Yuki held it out stiffly, looking away.

Ayame looked at the hawthorn twig for a long, slightly perturbed moment. The wind rustled the leaves outside.

"Ah! My brother has given me a gift from his heart to show his love and admiration for me, and though it may be simple and slightly strange I shall treasure –"

"Come on," Yuki mumbled, dragging Kyo by the wrist. Kyo acquiesced and followed for a few long moments before he realised that Yuki was, in effect, holding his hand.

He tugged it away, snarling. Yuki gave him a strange look.

"Why'd you do that?" Kyo changed the subject.

Yuki shrugged. "I knew he'd keep it. And... he's a pain in the arse, but I – I cannot just leave him to her."

Kyo wisely chose to say nothing. The day was getting stranger and stranger.

They arrived home to an unusually livid diatribe from Shigure and a sobbing Merry Sue.

Apparently she'd been worried about them. She wanted to talk to Kyo, alone, to find out why he was so mean to her. Kyo was sorry, but he had to have a chat with Yuki first.

Alone.

"So?" he hissed when they were closed up in his room together. Yuki shook his head.

"We're going to have to do it," he admitted, unable to see another way out of the situation. Asking Hatori and Ayame was kind of shot now.

The muscles in Kyo's jaw tensed. He looked ready to challenge Yuki to a deathmatch, so Yuki said, "I don't really want to do it, either, but can you think of another way?"

Kyo seemed to think about it. He chewed on his lower lip. Expressions flitted across his face in quick succession. There was a long pause. "... not... really," he said in a small voice.

Yuki nodded.

------------------------------

Okay, that's the next chapter. Please review. Also, I would be very, very happy to answer requests for this fandom, or 12 Kingdoms, provided that I don't have to write het.


	6. As The Music

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Mmm...

-----------------

Yuki nodded.

There was a knock on the door.

"Ano, Kyo-kun, it's me," Merry Sue's voice was soft and beautifully expressive; sorrow, confusion, sweetness, light.

Kyo's eyes went wide and afraid. Yuki bit his lip, swallowed. They didn't even know why they were afraid of her; her only power, as far as Yuki could tell, was making people love her.

Now or never. "Now," he mouthed to Kyo.

The redhead's eyes widened further. He swallowed audibly. Yuki took initiative, walking the few steps closer until it might have been more natural to touch one another than not to.

"Come on. We can do this."

Kyo nodded hesitantly.

Yuki swallowed, licking his lip in nervousness. The redhead, also, seemed to be hesitant. Red scorched his cheekbones, and he had that expression that said he wanted to turn away and stalk off in a huff.

No, vulnerability did not sit well with Kyo.

It didn't sit well with Yuki, either, but he was better at hiding it.

It was less that they were nervous of what might happen, the realisation slid into Yuki's mind gently as he watched apprehension flickering like a weak flame behind Kyo's eyes, than it was that neither wanted to do something the other might be uncomfortable with and suffer the ensuing humiliation of rejection.

Considering Kyo's personality flaws, Yuki didn't really want to stick his neck out on this one. He inched forward, closing the distance slightly in encouragement.

Both of them, with somewhat better hearing than human, heard the slight _swoosh_ of wood on carpet as the door slid open a tiny bit.

She was watching. If this didn't kill her, it was going to piss her off royally.

His breathing picked up. Adrenalin fogged his brain

Kyo leaned in, eyes sliding to bare slits, tilting his head just right. Yuki felt his breath catch and blushed like a schoolgirl, cursing his pale complexion. He felt the beginnings of a pleased chuckle roll through Kyo's chest and bristled.

Damn stupid cat – getting one up on him! It wasn't _right_. Things just didn't _work_ like that, damnit

Of course, that thought only lasted a moment. Lithe arms slid behind his back, tugging him closer. He jumped, swallowing. He could taste his nervousness, and now, so could Kyo. He felt like the redhead's hand was trying to claw through his stomach again.

Kyo's shoulders were tensed up, but he was doing a damn fine job of looking relaxed and comfortable, from Yuki's perspective. Kyo pulled back before he'd even started, giving Yuki a calculating glance.

He covered it with a lazy, supercilious smirk that made the paler boy want to throw him through a few walls. Under the guise of sliding his chapped lips along Yuki's jaw and letting them catch on the soft skin – Yuki swallowed again, mouth dry, and thought briefly that Kyo was a _very_ good actor – Kyo hissed in an incredibly contradictory tone, "We can stop and surrender to her any time you want,"

That was certainly to the point. Yuki's face blanched. "I – I'm sorry," he apologised, looking away without really understanding why.

Kyo seemed to take it at face value, though, because he shrugged, ever-so-slightly and covered by tugging on Yuki's body again. Yuki stumbled forward, falling onto Kyo's torso, which, he supposed angrily, was probably the idea.

He worked on composing his face while it was buried pseudo-affectionately in the bend between Kyo's neck and collarbone – the skin was so _soft_ here, really. It was one of the few places that didn't get burnt, rubbed or hit often enough to be less than perfectly smooth.

He sighed resignedly, hoping it looked rapturous, and raised his head, putting as much warmth in his expression as he could muster. He leaned forward, less unconfident now that Kyo had been so – so _forward_ with him, the bastard!

Anger sparked again as their lips met. It was the guiding principle behind their entire relationship, adding naturalness to a kiss that might have been pleasant enough without it. With it, Yuki's mind filled with swirling white mist, which might have taken the form of shoujo bubbles in someone more imaginative. A peculiar, pleasant kind of apprehension cooled in his stomach, shivering up his spine like some many-legged animal.

One of Kyo's arms lifted slightly, the one on the side away from the door, encouraging Yuki to do something – _anything­_ – with his hands. Yuki made a dissatisfied noise, pulling back. He frowned, biting his lip.

Kyo raised one eyebrow. The words, _are you scared,_ danced unsaid in the air between them.

"Never," Yuki whispered, smiling in pure amusement, letting his eyes slide mostly closed and grasping the coarse orange hairs at Kyo's neck in his long, thin fingers.

He tugged impatiently, curling one long arm around Kyo's shoulders at the elbow and sliding forward into him. The arms wrapped around his waist tightened and pulled them against each other, pressing their bodies together. Yuki swallowed.

Kyo licked his dry lips nervously. His breath was unsteady as he leaned in again. Kissing was good, kissing was easy, kissing didn't require brainpower, so why was his brain still lingering, yammering about how _ew_ this ought to be?

Because, contrary to most of his hopes, it wasn't exactly _ew_. Yuki turned his head and stretched up a little, becoming slightly more aggressive. No, not _ew_. Wet. Slick. Warm. Interesting. Yuki's lips weren't as rough as his. He probably took better care of himself.

Yuki' tongue was getting adventurous. Might be time to pay attention. He was pretty sure there was going to be some form of test. He growled softly in his chest, tugging the paler boy yet closer, taking a fist full of the black fabric of his top into his hand and giving into the urge to bite. His teeth sank deliciously into the soft flesh of Yuki's lower lip. It felt good and a delighted, satisfied smile stretched across his lips.

Yuki squeaked and tugged on Kyo's hair in rebuke, nipping warningly at the cat's tongue. Still... a little pain made fine spice for a kiss that had previously made his head spin. Maybe it was just lack of oxygen. Who cared?

Yuki made a soft murmuring noise in his throat. Never mind that he totally wasn't interested in this. It was an act; it had to be believable. If it wasn't believable she'd get them, both of them, and they'd become her mindless drones for all eternity.

He wasn't letting her have Kyo, damnit!

Wait. That came out wrong.

Damnit.

-------------------

How do I get Yuki _into_ these situations?

Heh, I managed to make my 1000 words without actually having anything happen. Just a warning: the badness will increase before the goodness does. This scene isn't going to please Her. XD


	7. Entwines Us

See first chapter for disclaimer.

This chapter has, as suggested in a review, more Tohru, but they're not currently at school, so her friends aren't there. Sorry, guys.

--------

It was clichéd, it was stupid, it was immature. Yuki stared into Kyo's eyes and blushed like mad. They were orange. The only thing to make them special was the sheer force of personality behind them.

The door closed softly. Both of them heard it clearly.

Kyo's hand tightened in his hair, and Yuki let himself be pulled forward.

God, it felt good.

----------

Outside, at a central-city street-corner, European-style café with lovely leather upholstery and the "grooviest" crowd in the city, Merry-Sue was crying to her friends.

Meredith, in a gorgeous ensemble of pink leather and velvet that matched her eyes, was seated next to her friend Mary-Jane. Mary-Jane was thin and lithe in her strappy leather stilettos and pink leather pedal-pushers. She wore nothing under her faux-fur jacket (animal rights, you see). Her hair was long and iris purple and hit her mid-thigh, contrasting with her molten sliver eyes.

Next to Mary-Jane, there was Marie, in hooker boots, fishnets and leather. Her pale, delicate wrists had a few horrific scars, so she covered them with leather bracers and chains. She puffed on her cigarette and slammed back her vodka while the other two took tasteful sips of their ladylike cappuccinos.

"Oh, I know exactly what you're going through, Merry," Mary-Jane said in her charming, sophisticated British accent. "It was the same with me when I first went to Hogwarts. I had to get bloody _Malfoy_ off my Harry before I could have him. Just keep trying, girlfriend," she slipped into her original, lower-class American brogue for a moment before covering her mouth with one pink-manicured hand in embarrassment.

Meredith sobbed louder, looking up. Somehow, her face remained untouched by the signs of tears that other girls might have to endure. Her makeup (which, really, she wasn't actually wearing) didn't even run.

"R – really?" she asked hopefully. Even her stutter was beautiful.

"Of course, you moron," Marie echoed scornfully. Meredith smiled a little, a small, beautiful, genuine smile. She knew that Marie didn't mean any offence; it was just her way. "I had the same stupid problem with Hiwatari-kun," she snorted nastily, "But that kitten didn't last too long after I... clipped his claws," she giggled.

Meredith nodded resolutely.

"You need to try harder. Which one do you _really_ want?"

"I want _both_ of them!" she pointed out.

Marie sighed, "It's not going to work that way. You'll have to pick the one you like best and turn him against the other one. I suppose you could do the deed yourself, but you're not the type," she added in tones that suggested that _she,_ on the other hand, was.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Merry mumbled. "But I don't _want _to get rid of Kyo; he's _cute_."

Mary-Jane smiled, "Well, the other one, then."

"No, no _way_, Yuki is _so _handsome!"

"Then I'll bet he already has a fanclub," Marie pointed out.

"You don't know how right you are," Merry mumbled, "but they're already mine by now. I'll have no trouble from them," she smiled.

"So it's just his boyfriend," Mary-Jane smiled.

Marie sighed, "But it sets such a bad precedent if you have to kill off the boyfriend first..."

------------------

"Ne, Tohru-chan, why don't you sleep in tomorrow morning?" Meredith murmured conversationally a little later that day. "I would be quite happy to make breakfast in the morning," she explained, flipping her lovely hair over her shoulder. Today it was turquoise and ankle-length.

"Oh, I couldn't –"

"Please, Tohru-chan, I really want to do something nice for all of you. You've been so good to me while I've been here," she insisted.

"Ano... but you've only been here for two days," Tohru pointed out, counting on her fingers, "are you leaving so soon?"

Meredith Rose Pearl Suede smiled at the sweet girl, batting her gold-flecked emerald eyes and flicking her hair like molten lava over her shoulder again. So green had gotten old.

"Oh, no. I don't intend to leave for quite a while,"

"Wait," Tohru murmured in confusion, missing the ominous tone, "wasn't your hair green a moment ago?"

Merry-Sue gave her a small, confused frown, "No, of course not. It's always been that colour. What, did you think I was some sort of monstrous chape-shifter?" she joked amiably.

Tohru giggled, feeling stupid. This girl was so sweet and graceful, she didn't want to seem like she was being mean to her. "Oh, I meant no offence. I just thought... Oh, I'm so silly sometimes," Tohru admitted with a rueful smile.

Merry-Sue nodded her agreement, twirling a lock of her waist-length red hair around one finger, "So, sleep in tomorrow. You could use a break, and I can make something exotic for breakfast for you all tomorrow."

Tohru nodded, "Okay, if you like. I don't mind taking the morning off, of course," she agreed. "But no leeks, okay?"

Merry-Sue frowned in polite confusion, but nodded.

---------------

I wonder what she's up to, that Meredith Rose Pearl Suede...


	8. Your Smile

See first chapter for disclaimer.

------------

"Oh, you," Merry grinned happily as Shigure slapped her arse, totally at ease. Today, her hair was lime-green, and her eyes and nails were purple. Her skin had the faintest bluish tinge, like she'd taken the purest white snow and slipped a drop of blue dye in it with an eyedropper.

It was a beautiful day, even if it was cloudy grey and the light shone wanly through rain, for today, she was making breakfast for her boys. The pot was bubbling. Finally. Naturally, Merry knew how to cook brilliantly, but that didn't mean she'd ever actually done it before.

The bottle was small and its contents were decidedly icky. She didn't want to get any on her fingers or clothes, because she sure didn't want to get poisoned herself, particularly in light of how slowly this stuff killed. It didn't really matter that she was a perfect being who – obviously – couldn't be killed by poison; she hated being sick. Of course, she knew that Hatori-san would take care of her...

She shook her head, ladling the broth out into bowls. It wasn't anything too difficult to cook; she didn't want to upstage the maid, did she now?

The instructions said to put it in directly before it was eaten or the effect would be minimized to some sort of fever, but she was quite sure that her inbuilt perfection would make certain that the effect was the same whenever she put it in. Of course it would. She was _perfect_, and perfect people's plans didn't go... _awry_.

She unstoppered the bottle – and, like, _ew_, did it smell _off_, like a communal grave fresh from the plague – and steeled herself. She didn't want to do it, but he was interfering with her plans for life, and she had to put a stop to it. _Nobody_ was going to take away her perfect life. Nobody.

"Miss Sue?"

That bloody maid!

"A – uhm, yes?" she called, turning and holding the bottle behind her back. Her smile was unruffled and sincere and her voice was under control in mere seconds. Her blue eyes were soft and sweet.

"Ano, are you sure you don't want any help with that soup?"

"Of course not, silly," Merry answered with a sparkling grin, pressing one finely-manicured hand against Tohru's shoulder in a friendly gesture. If she looked odd with her other hand hidden behind her back, the girl didn't seem to notice it.

She wouldn't, Merry thought and fought not to roll her eyes.

"It's just soup. And it's almost done, anyway," she pointed out, gesturing with her chin.

Tohru peeked over her shoulder, by which time she'd carefully recapped the bottle and slipped it up her sleeve.

"Oh, I see. It looks very nice, Miss Sue. I'm glad that I will share it with you," Tohru smiled.

Against her will, Merry felt her heart soften. The girl really was too sweet. And, even if she wasn't one of Them (although Merry didn't discount the possibility that there had been one of Them in her linage somewhere), she had her own, more gentle charms. She blushed, and it almost wasn't contrived. "Ah, thank you," she shifted uncomfortably.

"It looks ready," Tohru pointed out softly, hesitantly. "Would you like me to help you lay it out?"

Wha –? "No!" damnit, that had been far too obvious. Even the little ditz had realised that something was wrong. Merry could have kicked herself. She was lucky that Tohru wasn't the sharpest woman around. "I mean," she coughed, "it's just so rarely that you get a chance to stop doing work, you know?" she continued sweetly.

It was a good save, barring the fact that it was only her third day in the house. Oh, well. Tohru obviously didn't look that far.

"Oh, thank you, Miss Sue, but it really isn't necessary – I mean, I feel bad letting a guest –"

"I insist," Merry said firmly, leaving no room for argument. Tohru bowed slightly, nervously, and left.

That was the good thing about that sort of girl, Merry reflected with a smirk. They were so eager to please that it didn't matter how badly you messed up. She was glad she'd chosen this place to start in.

---------------------

"Kyo?"

"What?" Kyo snapped, uncurling from his blankets. His hair was sticking up at all odd ends, and he played the part of the ill-groomed, abruptly-woken alley-cat brilliantly.

So, so cute, Yuki thought. "You look stupid," he said.

Kyo scowled, eyes narrowing. It was too early in the morning for fighting unless it was absolutely necessary, and it might be necessary to make another attempt at Meredith later in the day.

"That had _better not_ be what you woke me up for," the redhead growled.

Yuki smirked. "Miss Sue is cooking breakfast," he announced clearly.

Kyo's suspicion was immediate and sharp. What was she playing at? "Really?"

"Really. It's on the table," Yuki told him and left.

_Idiot_, Kyo thought. He bunched and stretched the muscles in his back and shoulders, arching and twisting his neck. He was still so tired – it was the rain. Finally, after he thought he'd procrastinated long enough to piss everyone off – hey, it was raining, and if he had to be miserable, so would everyone else.

It was indeed on the table. Tohru said that it was good, too, but he didn't eat it. Yuki didn't seem to share his worries, eating his own with that irritating, refined aristocracy that he had. Kyo glared and dumped half of his in Yuki's bowl when Tohru was watching the lively discussion between Shigure and Meredith.

Jeez, he was acting weird lately, too, wasn't he? Kyo reflected, glancing at Yuki, who just barely shrugged.

---------------

Kyo was hungry by the time they got to school. He'd donated his umbrella to Torhu, too, so he was wet, tired, hungry and disinclined to put up with bullshit.

There was an orange tabby cat curled up on his desk in the bare grey sunlight that lit the classroom. The bell had yet to ring, so the classroom wasn't full. He glared at it. It didn't move.

"Figures," he mumbled, plunking down in his seat. He leant in and prodded experimentally at it. It cracked open one big yellow eye and mewled pathetically.

He sighed, rubbing its head with the same one finger. Its eye closed back up and it started to purr. Adult cats purr with some decorum. Kittens don't. This one cracked open both eyes after a moment and rolled over on the table, purring fit to make the Richter Scale.

The bell rang. "Time to leave," he told it seriously.

It glared at him and made another pathetic sound.

"I know it's raining," Kyo agreed, "I just _walked_ here in it."

A louder, less pathetic sound.

"So?"

A hiss and a swipe.

Kyo hissed back. The cat scrambled off the desk, hitting the floor. It looked surprised, then offended, then gave Kyo a long, hurt look.

He made an irritated nose. The cat glared harder.

"Alright," he relented, picking it up, "but the first sound you make is the last."

"Who are you talking to, eh?"

Uo. Not his favourite person. "Nobody," he snapped. "You're hearing things,"

"Right, okay. Well, there's this really fun card game..."

------------

"Why in Hell did you want to see me here again?" Kyo muttered, sliding the door closed. It was recess. The break wasn't long.

"Because, I found that the book says that you need higher amounts of... _intimacy_... to get the strong ones to leave," he came right out and said it. Later, Kyo would appreciate his bluntness. Right then, he was having trouble with his temper.

"WHAT?"

Yuki rolled his eyes, tugging Kyo's super-deformed form from its incredulous slump on the floor. Not that it hadn't been his initial reaction. He wasn't going to tell him that, though. "What are you complaining for?" he asked logically. "You _do_ want to get rid of her, don't you?"

Kyo glared. "Give me that!" he snarled, snatching the book from Yuki's grasp and flipping through it. Sure enough, Mary-Sues were listed on the same page as succubi and described in great detail. Once more, the recommended remedy was the same, although instructions were clearer.

Yuki was right. Intimate was a nice way of putting it. Did they have to have the pictures, Kyo found himself wondering plaintively.

"Kyo-kun," an achingly beautiful voice lilted softly from beyond the door. "I made you some lunch, I noticed that you didn't eat all your – Oh!"

Meredith Rose Pearl Suede slid open the door halfway through her narrative, and her hair went white.

One of Yuki's buttons was on the floor, she noticed. Her mind picked out small slices, hoping to understand the bigger picture without actually having to show her it.

One of Yuki's shoulder's was bared and his head was pulled back by the grip in his hair. If it wasn't for the faint flush across his cheeks and the tightness of his arms around Kyo, she'd have thought it was non-consensual. She couldn't put it in that light right now though.

There was a book on the floor at their feet, and it was open to a page that read, "_Dragons of Note through the Ages._"

She swallowed, feeling her pulse pick up unexpectedly. Her face felt clammy. Her hair was going grey.

One of Yuki's lovely, delicate hands slid insidiously up under Kyo's shirt, moving firmly, as though playing with the skin. There was a soft, encouraging noise from the redhead, who tugged them tighter. One of his orange eyes slid open, glazed and contented.

Meredith slammed the door with a force that ruffled Kyo's even-more-messy hair. She snarled audibly.

That _bastard_.

"We'll see," she hissed, and her hair was black and long and her eyes were deep red slits and her skin was paper-white and stretched tight across her bones and for a moment, just a moment, she didn't look very pretty at all.

-----------------

She's out for blood, and she seems pretty pissed off with Kyo.

Should I write you some actual, if amateurish (I can't see these boys being particularly experiences, what with the curse and all) smut?

My sex scenes aren't the greatest, but I won't use words like, "throbbing member" and I will maintain my grammar.


	9. Looks Like Crying

Greetings, loyal slashers. I'm ahead of schedule, so I'm taking the time out of my busy NaNoWriMo-ing/exams month to post. Love me.

-----------------

"I think it's working," Kyo said softly enough that, although his lips were pressed against the shell of Yuki's ear, he seemed far away. Human ears probably wouldn't have picked it up. Hers might have.

"I think I'd like to know what the Hell you're keeping down your shirt," Yuki mumbled, untucking the offending garment. It looked sensual, flirty.

Kyo was about to lose some dignity, though, so...

"HEY! What do you think you're DO – "

"... mrow," the kitten agreed loudly.

Yuki eyed the little creature curled up in his hand with distaste. Cats had never really been Yuki's favourite species. Mostly because they sent warning bells off in the back of his head. Being juunishi meant more than just turning into an animal at inopportune times. It meant that he had the instincts and senses and communicative ability of a mouse, in addition to his human characteristics.

Which, as you might guess, made cats his least favourite animal. Well, hawks and eagles weren't his favourite, either, but he had less contact with them.

"... neko?" he said blankly.

The kitten purred. Kyo sighed.

"Do you want to explain this, or do I assume the worst?" Yuki asked blandly, hiding his smile. Smile? He had no smile.

"... he was cold."

Yuki gave him a dubious look, which, contrary to the idea that disbelief in Kyo being nice might prove that his reputation was still intact, pissed him off immensely; he'd said it about himself – damnit, he should know!

"He WAS, DAMNIT!" This, you see, is where people get pissed off about the "lady protesting too much" theory.

"Alright, alright," Yuki agreed easily. He'd be happier not to spark another fight between himself and Kyo; they'd been getting along lately.

Kyo, however, seemed to think he was being patronized, something he detested.

"ARROGANT _RAT_!" he yelled, red in the faced and moderately super-deformed.

Yuki's face met his palm. You try to get along... "Stupid cat," he muttered emphatically.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Never mind."

"CHICKEN!"

"Chicken?" Yuki repeated, frowning.

Oh, he was being deliberately obtuse...

The wise little kitten quietly crept away, slinking around the door in a sinuous 's' shape.

------------------

From outside, making her way down the hall, Merry-Sue, among other, more innocent students, heard the resounding crash that came from the door of the room she knew held Yuki and Kyo. Chewing one lip, she frowned and turned around, ostensibly hoping that neither had been hurt.

She paused outside the door, listening to the worrying sounds from within. Fervently, she hoped they were fighting, but she decided against opening the door before the noises had died away – who knew what sort of damage it might do?

------------------

Yuki swallowed, wondering what the Hell Kyo had eaten for breakfast. He shouldn't have been this _fast_, particularly since, as far as Yuki knew, he hadn't eaten _anything_ that day.

He dodged – barely – another roundhouse, putting up one arm to smack away the fist that came flying after it. He was lucky that Kyo's style was predictable, at least.

"Kyo," he hissed, feeling the first hit connect – ribcage, that was going to hurt later.

"Kyo!" he yelled when the redhead showed no signs of stopping.

"WHAT?" Kyo yelled finally, slowing down. Yuki swallowed, feeling oddly warm.

"I think I'm going to be sick," he said abruptly, swaying.

Kyo raised one dubious eyebrow. So he finally started to beat the bastard and he suddenly felt _sick_, did he?

"No," Yuki gasped, gripping an upturned desk by the leg and hunching, "really,"

Kyo, finally noticing his cousin's sickly grey skin and the two spots of heightened colour on his cheeks said, "No shit," and moved closer, convinced that he wasn't about to strike out at him – it was too cheap a trick for Yuki, really.

He slowly slid one hand under his dishevelled hair, pressed the palm flat to Yuki's forehead and frowned for a moment.

"Yep," he agreed eventually, "you're definitely sick."

Yuki nodded, wondering at the speed with which this perturbing new illness had come on.

Kyo frowned. "Of all the goddamned times you could have picked to get sick," he muttered, scowling darkly at Yuki.

"Che. Idiot," Yuki muttered, "If I could have chosen the time, I'd have picked post mortem,"

_Patience_, Kyo wished upon himself, remembering that it wasn't fair to hit a man while he was sick, _patience_.

"Well, it's a good thing your tongue's intact, or you wouldn't be able to _insult_ the person who was trying to _help_ you, would you?" Kyo asked, leaping to the moral high ground as soon as it was in view.

Yuki gave him a deadpan look for a long moment before rolling his eyes.

Kyo glared, but this most enjoyable hobby of his was cut short when Yuki coughed something fierce, spitting out blood.

"...you're _really_ sick, aren't you?" Kyo asked, frowning. "I suppose I'm supposed to take you... wait," he hissed, eyes widening as his ears picked up on something outside.

"Eh?"

He mouthed, _she's still there_ to him. Yuki slumped, mouthing back, _just kill me already._

Kyo, choosing to mistake the word kill, leaned in and sealed their lips together. Yuki relaxed, allowing himself to be partially supported by the arm that wasted no time in wrapping itself around his waist.

The door slid open, and they both ignored it.

"Guys, are yo... SHIT!" someone shrieked.

Kyo looked up. Yuki looked up. They turned as one towards the doorway, then glanced back at each other in pure horror.

That wasn't Meredith Rose Pearl Suede.

-------------

Uber-short chapter. Sorry, I'm really busy lately. I hope the next one won't be so short, but that's only if I update after exams... when I'll have nothing to do at all except write fanfiction + NaNoWriMo.

For all of those wondering what this IS that I'm ranting about, please check "www(dot)nanowrimo(dot)org" to become enlightened.

Orange-head. For BJ-sama, may she always review.

Comments are always welcome. Actually, I've become rather intrigued by flames recently, so they're welcome, too.

3 Yasi


	10. My Breath Leaves My Body

See first chapter for disclaimer.

----------------------------------------

No. If it had been Meredith Rose Pearl Suede, it probably wouldn't have been quite so bad.

Unfortunately, it was someone else. Someone Kyo didn't recognize, but someone that Yuki evidently did, because he looked horrified.

Kyo wondered if they could come up with some cock-and-bull story about Yuki needing mouth to mouth. Then he glanced at Yuki's generally disheveled state and decided against even attempting that one, firstly because of his appearance and secondly because Kyo had now been looking at him for too long to pass it off.

Well, that sucked.

"Oh… my…" the girl trailed off, staring, wide-eyed at Yuki. Kyo scowled at this behavior. Surely, _surely_, the rat boy was to be suspected _more_ of this sort of thing than he?

"Yuki-sempai," she said, looking tearful. One lone tear trailed down her cheek as the enormity of the situation hit her.

Kyo looked back to Yuki, who had fallen to his knees and looked a sickly shade of white. Even _whiter_ than usual, although Kyo wasn't really sure if such a thing was possible. Perhaps it would be better to say that he'd gone a _Far Less Healthy_ white than normal.

"Fanclub," he gasped, leaning forward onto Kyo, which just made the situation look worse for the crowd that was appearing around the door. Lovely.

Kyo leant down a little more, just so that his cousin was quite so suspiciously aligned with his body, and pressed his palm to his forehead. Sure, he'd done it less than five minutes before, but it was good for show, at least.

Although, it did seem as though Yuki's temperature had risen and he seemed to be sweating alarmingly… more than he would have in a fight, for certain. Kyo frowned.

"Yuki-sempai is… gay?" a shocked, despairing female voice asked quietly.

Kyo looked up, and the last word from Yuki's mouth processed itself.

"DAMNIT!" he roared, ignoring the looks he was getting, since swearing was his second favorite form of self-expression (next to beating the sh!t out of Certain People, of course) and he'd be DAMNED before some stupid fanclub was going to take it away from him, even temporarily.

Of course, he was mostly just pissed off because the entire school would know before sundown and he'd have even _more_problems with social interaction than his various psychoses had already given him. Oh, woe is Kyo.

Abruptly, he remembered that Yuki seemed to be having a severe allergic reaction to _something_ vary nearly _on top_ of him. He noticed this because he was having some difficulty breathing. Kyo, in a brief flash of inspiration, turned to the Prince Yuki Fanclub Girls in the doorway and bellowed, "Don't just fucking STAND THERE! Call an AMBULANCE!"

While the majority of the fanclub winced and whimpered at being spoken harshly to, one or two of them realised that, between all of the suspicious body language and apparent homoerotic subtext of the situation, Yuki was _hurt_. Or _ill_. Or some other _Awful Thing._

While one of these girls promptly tried to get past her cowering comrades so she could face off with an angry and protective Kyo and force-feed him her right to _personally_ resuscitate Yuki-sempai, the other's eyes widened dramatically and she raced off down the hallway to find a teacher, a phone, and that handy-dandy medical crew with stretchers that always seems to hang around with the stage managers.

The girl that tried to approach Yuki and Kyo was dispatched in short order – Kyo doubted that it was terminal, although she would definitely be seeing the inside of a hospital room – and the orange-head returned his attention to Yuki, who seemed to be having trouble breathing.

Suddenly, he wished he'd paid attention to the stuff that Hatori used to go on about when he was finishing college. It might have been _useful_ in this sort of situation.

There was a brief commotion at the doorway as a teary Merry-Sue, now with beautiful magenta hair, shining blue eyes, _incredibly_ long legs and an _impossibly _tiny waist (she'd been watching _Utena_, you see), pushed her way inside. The hysterical Yuki Fanclub Girls parted before her easily, and, peripherally, even Kyo wanted to move aside for her radiance

Were allergic reactions usually _like_ this? And what in _hell_ was Yuki allergic to that might –

_…Kyo glared and dumped half of his in Yuki's bowl… _

– the soup.

The Breakfast that Might Have Been, but Probably Would have Killed Him.

Meredith Rose Pearl Suede screamed theatrically, throwing herself down upon Yuki. Kyo flinched, waiting for the inevitable transformation, but belatedly realised that she was the fourteenth Juunishi that turned into a magical pony or whatever and that she wouldn't cause any of _those_ problems.

Then reality sloughed recklessly on and, despite the presence of enormous amounts of white and grey and black and brown and the large blob of pink in the middle, he saw _red_.

"_What did you do to him_?" Meredith screamed. "_You've killed him!_"

There were hysterical screams from the doorway when she said this, although a lengthy philosophical debate might have been held on the subject of whether or not it would have been possible to become _more_ hysterical than the girls there already were. Suffice to say that there was much broken sobbing and animal wailing.

"_I've_ killed him?" Kyo asked, his voice growing warm with the beginnings of a really fine rage. "All we've been trying to do for the past week has been to GET RID OF YOU! And you just won't LEAVE US ALONE!" he yelled, tugging her up from the fallen body of her beloved by a few strands of silky pink hair so he could hiss and spit in her face.

"And NOW,_ NOW_ that you've POISONED my – my COUSIN," he hadn't been about to say it. Really, he hadn't. Damn you, Freud, said a small voice in the back of his head, "you have the AUDACITY to ACCUSE _ME_ of doing something so COWARDLY?"

"Oh, look, the medics," Merry-Sue said brightly and with the air of someone Looking for an Appropriate Distraction. She disentangled herself from Kyo's grasp easily – she was, after all, inhumanly strong.

It was true; the girl that had had enough of a mind to run for a teacher and a phone had succeeded, and there was a team of paramedics surrounding Yuki, who looked like he was convulsing.

"You're his cousin, you said?" one of them turned to Kyo, who nodded seriously, staring past them as they loaded Yuki onto their stretcher, having forgotten about Meredith Rose Pearl Suede and her dastardly plots.

"Well, the good news is, he's going to be all right," the man said, clasping his shoulder comfortingly. Kyo jerked away. As a general rule, the cursed members of his family didn't take very well to casual contact. The medic pretended not to notice. "There have been a few cases of this poisoning going around lately, so we've started carrying the antidotes in the ambulance – would you like to ride with us to the hospital?"

----------------------------

Outside, at a beach-side, European-style café with lovely cow-spotted upholstery and the "hippest" crowd in the city, Merry-Sue was crying to her friends.

Meredith, settled comfortably into a blue-green schoolgirl's outfit with an inhumanly short skirt and still sporting her pink hair, was seated next to her friend Mary-Jane. Mary-Jane was tall and toned and tanned, wrapped in a sarong of peppermint-y green and a hot pink bikini. Her hair was long and sunshine-yellow and cut sharply to just under her ears and allowing her bangs to be tucked behind her delicate (elfin, although she'd have preferred that people didn't know about that bit) ears, showing off her poisonous green eyes off to their best potential.

"… and, _oh, my God_, the world is fucking _ending_!" Meredith choked into her friend's shoulder. Mary-Jane promptly ordered her a highball. The waiter, knowing perfection when he saw it, returned almost immediately with the drink.

Next to Mary-Jane, there was Marie, in her black leather mini with the see-through, permanently-creased black shirt that showed off her scarlet bra obviously and the thigh-high vinyl boots with the chunky buckles. Her pale, delicate wrists had a few horrific scars, so she covered them with leather bracers and chains. She slouched stylishly on the spotted lounge, her spiky heels planted firmly on the glass coffee-table and her cheap cigarette clasped loosely between her lips as she listened to her friend's tale of woe.

"And he _yelled_ at me," she bawled into her highball. Mary-Jane gasped. Marie remained unperturbed. It was sort of her overriding descriptor these days, particularly after the Incident.

"He did _what_?" Mary-Jane asked, after glancing at Marie briefly.

"I _know_" Merry said emphatically. "He yelled at _me_. Me with my tormented past and fragile mental state – does he not _know_ that one harsh word from him could push me to the brink of suicide and send him tumbling into the murky, slightly transparent depths of life-swallowing guilt?"

"Well, no," Marie interjected, standing up to pet her friend on the shoulder, "but that's because your angst-filled past is supposed to be a secret until someone who desperately wants to know the mysterious and wonderful new person in their midst works up the nerve to ask about you, wherein you will tell this person all about it in a nonchalant, brave kind of way and eventually end up bawling in their arms because it's been so _long_, perhaps even forever, since you've found someone who could really _understand_ you." She paused. "But I do take your meaning. It was really very insensitive of him, particularly in light of the fact that he'd have gotten you, had the other died."

Mary-Jane stared at Marie for a moment. "My," she murmured. "It's simply _uncanny_ how you do that."

"It's a gift," said Marie, placing last month's issue of _Shatter_ in front of Meredith, who perked up right away and began flipping through the pages.

"Well, hey, it's not the end of the world. I mean, I'll just find some other way to get rid of him, and the medics said that Yuki was going to be _fine_, so it's all good, right?"

"Right," Mary-Jane said brightly. "I mean, did I ever tell you about that time when me and Syaoran-kun…"

----------------------------------------

Okay, guys. I'm going on holiday, so this double-length feature needs to hold you over until then. The "orange-head" part is for BJ, and may never be mentioned again, strictly because I think it sounds ungainly. Also, I am in an interesting mood while I write this, so things might be a little… interesting. Yeah. Not too impressed with this chapter myself; I think it's descending into yaoi-fangirl-ish glee. Not that that's really that much of a problem, when you think about it, but I didn't really intend it to be this… blatantly squee-filled. If you can guess where I "awww"ed when writing this, I'll give you virtual cookies.

Also, I think I'm beginning to like Marie. How sad for me.

No, this ihasn't/i been proof-read or spellchecked. Right now, I couldn't possibly care less. But please, for the love of cheese, if this makes you laugh, itell/i me. I REALLY need to know that I'm amusing SOMEONE right now.

Goodnight, from the Authoress.


	11. Like Drowning,

See first chapter for disclaimer.

Dear Goddess, could my last chapter have _had_ any more typos? I'm really sorry, guys. I should proof-read my things more often.

Anyway – beware: angsty romance and barely a hint of humour. Sorry to disappoint.

-------

Kyo trudged through the mud, ignoring Honda-san's worried glances. They stopped at the crossing and waited for the lights to change. It was raining again, heavier now, and the low clouds leeched the world of color. How inordinately fitting. The puddles splashed up around the legs of his school pants.

"Kyo-kun," Tohru said hesitantly, "you're getting wet."

Kyo's eyes refocused on the hem of his pants. He moved one foot experimentally. "So I am," he agreed blankly. He crossed the road, blatantly j-walking.

Horns blared angrily. Tohru looked left, looked right, said, "excuse me" so softly that nobody could really hear it, and ran after him.

The trip to the hospital had been awful. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't really want to think about it. The hospital hadn't been so bad. It was like most hospitals – it smelled like various disinfectants and was a bleak, blank white.

He'd been sort of coherent again by that stage.

They'd taken him out of his uniform, dressed him in one of those stock hospital robes. He'd looked fragile.

Kyo had left.

Actually, he'd run out, banging doors and swearing at the orderlies and nurses in his way. Tohru had met him at the school gates, frightened and worried. He'd said that everything was fine. _He_ was fine.

But, of course, he reminded himself, finally beginning to feel the water in his shoes, everything wasn't fine. It _wouldn't_be fine until she was _dead_.

He looked up. Home. Tohru's footsteps splashed into his awareness. She caught up, panting. Kyo hadn't realised he'd been walking so fast. She looked in askance at him. He took a deep breath, smiled faintly and ruffled her hair before kicking off his shoes and stomping in.

Tohru stared after him, looking a little disturbed. "Ano…" she mumbled. "He must be more upset than he looks. That means…" she trailed off, "that means… Yuki is _hurt_! Oh, no, what do I do?" she asked, turning her head this way and that, wide eyed.

Shigure poked his head out the door. "Tohru-chan?" he asked. "Was that Kyo?"

"Ah, tadaima," Tohru mentioned, nodding. "Yes," she agreed. "It was Kyo… but I don't think he's feeling very well."

Shigure nodded. "I would hope not. Merry says that he blamed her for Yuki's accident."

Tohru frowned. As far as she'd heard from the scary girls in Yuki's fanclub who'd come to pump her for information, Meredith had accused _him_ of hurting Yuki. She shook her head. "I… I don't know about that, Shigure-san," she said dubiously. Although, Kyo sure didn't seem to like Meredith much, so maybe it _was_ true…

"Well, she's been in tears ever since that time, so when you see him, tell him I expect him to apologise, ne?" Shigure said cheerfully, clapping his hands and turning away.

"Ah, ano…" Tohru trailed off. How was she supposed to do that? Kyo would _eat_ her. "Mou…"

----------------------

Dinner was not exactly an enjoyable affair, but it was significantly better than previous nights.

In short, Yuki wasn't there, but neither was Meredith, thank god. Kyo pushed his food around on his plate moodily. Leeks. Huh. _He_ liked leeks.

Tohru raised her head, looking between a silent but forcedly cheerful Shigure and an uncommunicative and sulky Kyo. She panicked.

"Um, where's Miss Suede?" she asked quickly, hoping to break the nervous silence.

Shigure's forced smile faded. Kyo's scowl darkened.

Tohru swallowed audibly.

"She's at the hospital." Shigure stated.

Kyo's eyes flew up to meet his. "She's _WHAT?_" he screamed. It was the first real noise of the night, and Tohru thought that hearing something so very normal was comforting.

Shigure's eyes went cold. "She was very upset about Yuki," he said flatly, "So I suggested that she visit him."

Kyo scrambled up, knocking his plate off the table. He was out the door before the first angry syllable had the opportunity to echo.

----------------------

Yuki's eyes slid open at the sound of the door shutting. Everything was still blurry, which wasn't surprising. The doctors had said that it would be that way until the symptoms were all gone, and they certainly hadn't disappeared in the short time he'd gotten to sleep.

He ached all over. His head was bad, but his chest was worse – breathing had been hard, and the doctor had said that it was more complicated because of his condition, the records of which had been supplied quickly and immediately by Hatori.

He was sort of glad Kyo had left before he'd gotten his voice back from the screaming. Having witnessed the commotion his ill-tempered cousin had made at the school, he wondered what might have come through his lips. Particularly at the word that was circling amongst the hospital staff.

Poison.

Which kind of proved Kyo's point about Meredith's home-cooking. He was surprised; he hadn't thought that she'd have done something so overtly hostile. But maybe a full course of the stuff wouldn't have been recognisable as poison, or maybe she'd have charmed her way out of a felony.

He glanced at the doorway and quickly closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He didn't have his twig with him anymore, and he was quite sure that knowing the truth of the matter would not protect him from her.

"Ah, Yuki-san," she said softly in her wonderful, terrible voice. "It wasn't meant to be you, you know," she said, settling onto the side of the hospital bed. He felt her weight settle, felt her pull her knees up to her chest. "He was supposed to eat the damn thing. He wasn't supposed to feed it to _you_," she emphasized, and he heard the thud of a fist hitting something.

"I'm sorry about that, Yuki," she said softly, sliding one delicate hand along his cheek. Against his will, he felt his heartbeat begin to hammer at the touch. She let go of her legs, allowing them to slide off the side of the bed again and flipping them around, so that she was leaning over him. "And," she added, in a voice so low that even though her soft lips brushed his ear she seemed far, far away, "I know you're awake."

--------------------

Kyo _ran_. He had never run so far, so fast in his life.

But somehow, he knew, if he didn't get to the hospital in time, something irreversibly bad would happen. So, even though the water splashed around his ankles and the grey-bleached night threw disturbing shadows on the close walls of the city and the rain dribbled down his collar, he ran.

-------------------------

He opened his hazy eyes, shocked and pleased that he could see her so clearly. "Yes," he agreed gently, moving his hand up to pull hers away from his face, "I am awake." His hand made it to hers, but he lacked the will to tug it away. Really, what harm could it do?

She smiled joyously, sliding herself back around. She sat on the edge of the bed again, still holding his face in her hands, "I'm very glad you're awake, Yuki."

He smiled with her. "Me, too," he said.

"Because this is special, you know," she continued softly, as though he hadn't really spoken. He wondered if he had. Her hand slid down to his chest, above his hammering heart. "This, right here," she patted his chest for emphasis.

"Is it?" he asked blankly.

"Of course, silly," she grinned, and, for no discernable reason, so did he. "It's _mine_."

"Oh," he said confusedly, but then he brightened. "Of course," he agreed, staring into her poisonous green eyes. But wait, he said to himself. Wasn't there something else? Someone else?

She smiled and nodded. Her smile made the thought vanish. "Because there _is no one else_," she said forcefully, pressing down hard. Yuki gasped and choked.

Pain made it easier to think. She was _wrong_. _WHAT_ There _was _someone. Someone…

She seemed to catch on and let up, allowing her hand to travel to his face again. She stroked down his cheek, and he forgot what he'd been thinking about. But something nagged at him. If only he could _ think_…

"Now, kiss me, Yuki," she said softly, "and there will _never_ be anyone else for you. After tonight, there will never be anyone else for either of us," she purred, leaning in.

--------------------

Kyo sped up.

-----------------------

And that is the end of that chapter. I think I'm only going to have one more, and maybe an epilogue if I get enough reviews asking for one. True to form, this chapter hasn't been proof-read very well.

Um, also, I've been trying to use American spelling, but I keep forgetting. Does anyone mind if I just stick to the Australian way from now on? Since I'm pretty much just confusing myself, I'd assume it's pretty irritating for you, too.

How many Americans in the audience, anyway?

I know. It wasn't funny. Don't worry – with my plan for the next chapter, you'll at least crack a smile.

Thank you, Brave Reviewers. Comments are appreciated.


	12. Like Dying

See first Chapter for Disclaimer.

---------------------------------

Kyo was in sight of the hospital. Later he'd swear he'd never run so fast in his life, never felt so panicked. God knew what she was doing to Yuki. Yuki didn't have any protection from her. He was all alone in that little hospital room.

Kyo remembered him, pale and fragile, trying to breathe clearly. White on white on white. Even his eyes had looked grey.

Something in his gut twisted at the thought of leaving him there with her. He moved faster, impatient for the automatic doors to slide open.

They slid, he moved. Hallways rushed by. Turnoffs. A few orderlies yelled at him to slow down. He barreled in through the doors, screaming,

"Yuki! I LOVE YOU!"

A brunette beside the hospital bed looked up at him, fire in his eyes.

"Um, I'm sorry. I'm Tsukishiro-kun. Maybe you're after the Yuki in the next hallway?" the pale boy in the bed asked.

Kyo glared at him. DAMNIT! He turned and bolted the other way.

"What a strange boy, ne, Touya?"

------------------------------

Meredith smiled.

"Now, kiss me, Yuki," she said softly, "and there will _never_ be anyone else for you. After tonight, there will never be anyone else for either of us," she purred, leaning in.

Her beautiful polka-dotted eyes fluttered closed as she pressed her lips to his. They were cool and soft and slippery from her raspberry lip-gloss. Yuki sighed into her mouth, leaning into the kiss.

She pulled back. "There," she said gently, softly, "That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

He shook his head mutely, licking the raspberry-flavoured goodness from his mouth.

She frowned. "What's the matter? Don't you have anything else to say?"

He blinked, swallowing. His mouth was dry. "I… I'm thirsty," he croaked. She nodded.

"Well, I'll go get you some water then." Meredith grinned. "Don't leave." She skipped out the doors, smiling to herself. That was it. He was hers. One kiss was all it took.

Yuki stared at the ceiling, counting cracks. There were watermarks. It was an old hospital. He knew that Meredith would have to be his life now. Nobody could compare to her. Yet, somehow, he felt a soft, strange kind of wistfulness. It was familiar and uneasy; a scent, a sound, a colour that he knew but couldn't quite remember, like a childhood lullaby heard again after decades. It was something important.

He wished he knew what he was trying to remember. He knew he'd been able to do it before she'd kissed him, but he couldn't… couldn't think. He couldn't remember the place, or the sound or the person. Person? Yes, it had been a person. He frowned – a person shouldn't be so easy to forget.

The door slid open again, and he turned. The water might wake him up a little. He blinked.

That wasn't his sweet Meredith. He had orange hair. Really bright, almost garish orange hair. He was breathing like he'd run a long way. Yuki felt that same wistful and familiar unease in his mind. Was this then the person?

He blinked at him again. The boy with the orange hair seemed speechless. He moved fast, faster than Yuki's drug-dulled senses could catch. Suddenly, his warm, chapped lips were sweeping across Yuki's own, rough and forceful and very different from Meredith's.

Meredith.

"Wait, Meredith is –"

"_FUCK THE BITCH!"_ the boy with the orange hair screamed at him angrily. He looked cute when he was angry.

Angry.

Wait. Kyo.

_Kyo_.

Memories came rushing back in a flood like a dam bursting. His mind was overwhelmed. Angry Kyo, sulky Kyo, scowling Kyo, irritating Kyo. Challenging him. Fighting him – getting his butt kicked over and over and over and still persistent enough to try again. The never-say-die attitude, the screaming matches, the fits of adolescent rage.

Yuki wondered what he saw in him.

Then Kyo's lips closed over his again and he remembered the other side. He remembered the part where they'd worked together and overcome their various (and, truthfully, rather acute) psychological disorders to help each other. How Kyo had agreed to team up with him to help save the family that had never given a damn about him anyway.

He wondered why he did it.

He opened his eyes to find a set of warm orange eyes. He wasn't sure if they were glaring at him, or if it was just their normal expression. He was willing to stick around to find out.

"Hi," he said slowly, smiling at him.

Kyo smiled, too, a sweet, unguarded expression. Yuki liked it better than the scowl.

"I thought I was too late," Kyo whispered against his ear. His voice was raw.

"So," Yuki nodded, "Did I."

"We have to kill her."

"Yes."

"No matter what it takes?"

Yuki grinned a lopsided little grin. "No matter what it takes," he whispered.

The pulse jumped nervously under Yuki's white, white skin.

Kyo bit it.

Yuki squeaked and batted him over the head. Kyo growled, leaning over him and swinging one leg across his body. He was scowling again. It was cute. He pressed down and kissed him, rough and hot and breathless and everything a kiss was supposed to feel like, and Yuki grabbed at him, tugging closer and harder and gasping when given the chance.

He could feel the growly noise rolling around in Kyo's chest. He wondered insanely if rubbing his stomach would make him purr. His hand slid under the light top the redhead wore, catching on the cooling sweat from running through the dark city night. He must have been freezing.

He swallowed, feeling breathless anticipation coil in his stomach. One of Kyo's teeth sliced over his collarbone.

"Not supposed to be sharp," he mumbled semi-coherently.

"Shut up," Kyo responded, biting harder. Yuki snarled, knocking his head away from his neck, tugging him back up for a kiss.

Kyo moved with him, but hung back, suspended over Yuki's face. His lips were very red.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," he muttered, nuzzling against his cheek carefully.

The door slid open, but they were both too transfixed to notice.

"I… I…"

"You don't need to say it," Yuki said, swallowing. If he cried now, he was going to kill Kyo. It was all his goddamned fault, anyway. "I… I love you, too."

Kyo made a small sound. It might have been a sob. He tipped his head so that his hair hung in his eyes and Yuki smiled with the air of one who wasn't going to go there.

"I do need to say it," Kyo replied. "Because it's… it's a pride thing. I need to be honest, finally. It's…" he swallowed, and his voice might have broken, but Yuki pretended not to hear it. "I… Love you."

There was a long pause. Yuki's grip on Kyo's back got tighter, clutching as though he'd never let him go.

"THERE! I _SAID _IT! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" Kyo screeched, sitting upright and shaking his fist. "WOULD YOU JUST FREAKIN' LEAVE ME ALONE NOW?"

Yuki shifted away from him. After all that gentle murmuring and soft touching like the ending of every bad romance novel you've ever read, _this_ was his reward? His significant other went totally _stark raving mad_?

… Not that he hadn't been totally stark raving mad to begin with, or anything.

He had to do something to salvage this situation. "… are you talking to me?" he asked.

Kyo looked down, as though surprised that he was still there, which Yuki thought was a little unfair.

"Um, _no_," Kyo said, as though it were obvious. "Why would I say that to you?"

"I don't know… maybe because there's _no one else in the room_?"

Kyo shrugged. "My conscience has been giving me hell about that for days. He's like this little bug thing or whatever. Tells you what to do."

Yuki shook his head. He wondered, for the second time in the past fifteen minutes, what he saw in the redhead. He was insane. Bonkers. And whatever sanity he _had_ had had shattered into shiny little pieces on the floor, along with the preconceived notion of his sexuality and his delusions of familial affection.

"Whatever. Just promise me it's not infectious."

"WHAT'S _THAT_ SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"Never mind," Yuki muttered. "I can't be bothered arguing now."

Kyo glared and scowled irritatingly cutely at him, then looked around for A Suitable Distraction, failing to realize that he was Still Sitting Atop Yuki.

"Hey, what's that glass doing on the floor there?" he asked.

Yuki frowned over his leg at it. Indeed, there did seem to be a shattered glass on the floor, along with a large puddle of water.

"Meredith was bringing me water," he said slowly.

"Huh," Kyo muttered. "I heard the door open, but I was halfway through my dramatic proclamation, so I ignored it."

They both stared at it for a while.

"Lucky she didn't leave a body around to complicate matters, huh?" Yuki asked.

Kyo nodded wordlessly.

-------------------------

A day later, Yuki got out of hospital.

He was bombarded with gifts and flowers and blushingly-given love-letters and get-well cards from his fanclub, which Kyo bore with barely-concealed apoplexy. Tohru was yet to figure out why he and Yuki weren't arguing so much anymore, and, when she asked, Kyo just blushed and snapped at her.

She took this to Shigure, who only smiled breezily at her and assured her that "they were going through a certain period in their lives" before trailing off pseudo-tearfully in a long, nonsensical diatribe about how his boys were growing up. Tohru would have listened, but his editor was charging at them like a miffed bull and she used the excuse to quickly depart.

Occasionally, Shigure or Hatori would be caught wondering what had ever happened to that Meredith girl. Or was it Melissa?

Yuki and Kyo remembered, but _they_ certainly weren't telling. They were happy to have things back to normal – or, as normal as the Sohma family every got.

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That's that. Yes, the proofreading was shoddy. I just wrote it – I'm too lazy to read it again.

Was the chapter too short? Did I leave anything out?

More importantly, would you like to see an epilogue?

Remember, guys, I will take one-shot challenges or requests. In fact, I'd be ecstatic to get some inspiration.

If you do want me to write you something, give me a series (if it's not one I know, I'll reply and tell you), two characters, four objects and a holiday or place. I suck at thinking up crack.


	13. I am not your prize, I was never perfect

See first chapter for the obligatory series disclaimer.

Epilogue: I am not your prize. I was never perfect.

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"Still," Kyo muttered, unwilling to let it go.

Yuki rolled over to face him. Their heads were aligned, their bodies laid out in opposite directions on the floor. It was hot. Sunlight through the trees dappled Yuki's hair, making it shiny and very, very pale.

"Drop it," the pale boy insisted. "I'd rather not know at all."

Kyo nodded slowly. Maybe he was right. Then again, maybe he was wrong. It happened.

If somebody had told him four months ago that he'd be laying on the floor, perfectly relaxed and having a nice, quiet talk with ratboy, he'd have slapped them. Actually, he'd have bashed the ever-lovin' shit out of them and dared them to say it again.

As it was, the rumors around school about the pair of them were rampant; soft hissing whispers as each walked through the halls. Yuki bore it with more grace than Kyo had ever possessed.

Then again, Kyo did more damage to the whisperers than Yuki would ever consider.

Months ago, their imperfect but reasonably bearable life had been crashed, as it were, by a monster in human form. They'd had to give up their habitual rivalry in order to save the Sohma family from living out the rest of their lives as willing zombies addicted to her charms. In the process, they'd discovered – well, alright, they'd been _forced_ to discover – that the two of them were a lot more compatible than they'd thought.

_Naturally_, the Sohma family didn't remember a thing about the incident.

When Kyo brought this up, Yuki had just laughed at him, saying that it was Murphy's Law, and wasn't he used to it by now?

Kyo had scowled and whacked him upside the head.

Now he was still wondering what the hell had happened to her.

"I know," he agreed, blinking at Yuki's upside-down features. "But it's too weird. It's like she just, _poof_, disappeared. I keep expecting her to jump out from around a corner and attack me."

Yuki shrugged, closing his eyes serenely. "'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth'," he quoted. Kyo scowled.

"Yeah, alright, whatever."

Slowly, he was learning that compromise was a good thing. It wasn't always easy, but he couldn't maintain a stable relationship with _anyone_ if he couldn't let go of his pride occasionally and allow the other person to win. Particularly with Yuki, who, in his own quiet way, was just as bad.

Equal footing was a must.

So he dropped the topic.

"… When's Shigure going to be home?"

Yuki yawned. "I wouldn't be so eager. He's gone to the doctor's, which inevitably means that he'll be bringing some excess baggage back with him." Although, honestly, Yuki was slowly learning that his brother's perspective on things, although very unstable and a little warped, was valid.

To reiterate the key word, he was leaning _slowly_.

Still, it gave him some hope for the future, even if he was glad that Ayame hadn't noticed it yet. That would be… interesting, to say the least.

"Huh. Stupid snake."

"Uh-huh," Yuki agreed. "So noisy. Almost as noisy as you, actually."

"Shut up."

"…Mm'kay."

Things weren't perfect in the world of Yuki and Kyo, but they were sure as hell looking up.

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"Hi," The girl said, pulling down the hem of her leather tanktop. "I'm Meredith. I'll be battling against you in the tournament, so you'd better start working hard."

Kai snorted. "Sure. Whatever."

"Huh!" Takao snarled, leaning forward into her face. She scowled. He wasn't the one she wanted. "You and what team!"

Meredith flipped her waist-length slate-coloured hair. It shone in the early-morning sunlight. She glared at the impudent little boy with the cocky edge she knew would get to _him_.

"No team, dumbass," she said, shoving her forefinger into his chest. "I'm a one-woman _revolution_, and you _Bladebreakers_ had better watch out, because I'm going to beat you _all_." Meredith Rose Pearl Suede spun on the heel of her chunky leather boot and stalked off.

That had gone rather well.

She could feel his appraising red eyes on her, hear with her heightened half-sayajin ears picking up on the, "Che. We'll see if she battles like she talks."

She smiled to herself. Of course she did. She _was not_ going to lose this one.

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Um, I know that Kyo and Yuki are… _way_… more evolved in this epilogue, but take into consideration the timeframe… and the fact that I was getting really sick or writing them as immature little brats.

And, yes, that little bit at the end was a Beyblade reference. I'm sorry if you didn't get it. I was trying to pick something that I knew a lot of people at least knew of, so I didn't use, like, Petshop of Horrors or 12 Kingdoms. Yeah.

Thus dies "A Furuba Mary Sue". I hope you all had fun. Unless I make grammatical edits or suchlike, this won't be updated again. Even if I really want to do a connected drabble or something, it's not going to be in this actual story, so, yeah…

I don't know if that's really all that relevant.

Thanks for reading,

Yasmyn.


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